1.7.4-Pilferingapples
Brick!club Les Miserables 1.7.4 Forms Assumed By Suffering During Sleep In Which This is Suddenly a Rodgers and Hammerstein Musical …And this is the Dream Ballet. That thought is the only thing keeping me from HURLING THIS CHAPTER TO THE GROUND IN AGGRAVATION, because my GOSH, it is BORING. It’s not that I object to Hugo just having a flail about in some poetic language and imagery, that’s some of my favorite Stuff Hugo Does, but we’ve just BEEN doing that, and it was SO GOOD, remember how good yesterday’s chapter was, that was really good, if I hadn’t had an 11th hour realization of my own slowpoke comprehension I would have had NOTHING to say except basically “YES THIS” and I was hoping writing today’s post would give me another skull-splitter like that, but alas. Nope. Valjean is asleep, he’s still having the Great Conscience Battle of 18…20-some? WHAT YEAR IS IT I HAVE LOST TRACK, and there is a lot of Imagery but it’s all disjointed and BLECH, but then I picture Valjean dancing in a gauzy scarf and billowy skirt through allegorical represenations of Toulon and M-sur-M and Faverolle, and Javert and the Bishop fighting for him a là Curly and Jud, and everything is OKAY. …I don’t have a lot to offer today, really. Maybe I’ll go discuss utilitarian philosophy off yesterday’s posts… Commentary Gascon-en-exile Massive project that this is, I feel that we all need some off days - I’ve plainly had my share already. Curiously I do find this chapter inordinately interesting, ripe as it is for both allegorical and psychoanalytical readings. It’s also possibly the only (or at least one of the very few) cases in which we get what is supposed to be Valjean’s own writing, so the dream account carries all the intimacy of a diary entry or the like. Everything is intensely symbolic, even the certain but uncertain setting (not even Valjean knows, and he questions himself via a parenthetical that Hugo must footnote in order to emphasize it even more). I may also say that whenever I dream of naked men on horses they’re not nearly this ugly, so alas for the fact that this is probably not a sex dream. There’s a sense that Valjean is passing from the familiar (his brother) to a solitary unknown leading to his own death, but there’s all sorts of interpretations and if I felt like taking more time to analyze this dream I could probably come up with more. I’m sure other club members will have all sorts of interesting theories, though, so I don’t want to be too excessive. Just let me do my duty by calling attention to the naked man and be done with it. Beyond the dream vision, the last part of this chapter feels both surreal and bizarrely naturalistic, going from the vague moment of half-awakening in which Valjean waxes cryptic on the stars back into the harsh light of the real world and his plans for bursting dramatically into a courtroom. Pilferingapples (reply to Gascon-en-exile) ..Reblogging because such faithfulness to one’s fandom office should be recognized. …Also because I read the chapter three times trying to find something to talk about and totally missed the naked guy on the horse. Maybe if he’d been punching something.